To be
alive in such an age!
With
every year a lightning page
Turned
in the world's great wonder-book
Whereon
the leaning nations look.
When
men speak strong for brotherhood,
For
peace and universal good;
When
miracles are everywhere,
And every
inch of common air
Throbs
a tremendous prophecy
Of greater
marvels yet to be.
Oh,
thrilling age!
Oh,
willing age
When
steel and stone and rail and rod
Become
the utterance of God,
A
trump to shout his thunder through
Proclaiming
all that man may do.
To be
alive in such an age!
When
man, impatient of his cage,
Thrills
to the soul's immortal rage
For
conquest reaches goal on goal,
Travels
the earth from pole to pole,
Garners
the tempests and the tides,
And
on a dream triumphant rides.
When,
hid within a lump of clay,
A
light more terrible than day
Proclaims
the presence of that Force
Which
hurls the planets on their course.
Oh,
age with wings!
Oh,
age that flings
A
challenge to the very sky
Where
endless realms of conquest lie!
When
earth, on tiptoe, strives to hear
The
message of a sister sphere,
Yearning
to reach the cosmic wires
That
flash Infinity's desires.
To be
alive in such an age!
That
thunders forth its discontent
With
futile creed and sacrament,
Yet
craves to utter God's intent,
Seeing
beneath the world's unrest
Creation's
huge, untiring quest,
And
through Tradition's broken crust
The
flame of Truth's triumphant thrust;
Below
the seething thought of man
The
push of a stupendous plan.
Oh,
age of strife!
Oh,
age of life!
When
Progress rides her chariot high
And
on the borders of the sky
The
signals of the century
Proclaim
the things that are to be
The
rise of woman to her place,
The
coming of a nobler race.
To be
alive in such an age!
To
live to it!
To
give to it!
Rise,
soul, from thy despairing knees.
What
if thy lips have drunk the lees?
The
passion of a larger claim
Will
put thy puny grief to shame.
Fling
forth thy sorrow to the wind
And
link thy hope with humankind;
Breathe
the world-thought, do the world-deed,
Think
hugely of thy brother's need.
And
what thy woe, and what thy weal?
Look
to the work the times reveal!
Give
thanks with all thy flaming heart
Crave
but to have in it a part.
Give
thanks and clasp thy heritage. . . .
To be
alive in such an age!
"We Are One"
~"To-day" by Angela Morgan
For more on teaching children using poetry, read "Poetry and Kidschool" by Rachel DeMille >>
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